Method of controlling the ring rail movement of a ring twisting machine



March 12, 1968 GRAF F- A. METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE RING RAIL MOVEMEN OFA RING 'IWISTING MACHINE Original Filed Dec. 12, 1962 3 Sheets-Sht 1-Fig. I

- INVENTOR. FeL/x Am 1: as GM! March 12, 1 968 F. A. GRAF 3,372,882METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE RING RAIL MOVEMENT I OF A RING TWIS'I'INGMACHINE Original Filed Dec. 12, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

UHAI

INVENTOR. Fel/X Original Filed Dec. 12, 1962 March 12, 1968 F. A. GRAF3,

METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE RING RAIL MOVEMENT F A RING TWISTING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet S United States Patent Ofiice 3,372,882 Patented Mar. 12,1968 3,372,882 METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE RING RAIL MOVEMENT OF A RINGTWISTING MACHINE Felix Andreas Graf, Winterthur, Switzerland, assignorto 5 Maschinenfabrik Rieter A.G., Winterthur, Switzerland, a corporationof Switzerland Original application Dec. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 244,109.Divided and this application Aug. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 480,437 Claimspriority, application Switzerland, Feb. 26, 1962, 2,290/ 62 8 Claims.(Cl. 242-261) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The method of winding thefilament packages includes an initial step of winding a small number ofvery steep windings on the spindle. Thereafter, the knotting windingsare wound onto the spindle and, following that, a small number of verysteep windings are wound on the spindle. The package proper is thenwound onto the spindle.

This application is a division of my copending application Ser. No.244,109, filed Dec. 12, 1962, now Patent No. 3,245,215.

This invention relates to textile ring twisting machines.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method ofwinding filament packages on ring twisting machines having a pluralityof rotatable spindles, a ring placed around each spindle and beingtraversed up and down, each ring guiding a ring traveller which beginsto move around the respective spindle simultaneously with the startingof filament supply for winding waste windings and a package on thespindle, the improved method including winding knotting windings ofequal lengths on all spindles, winding a small number of very steepwindings prior to the winding of the knotting windings and winding asmall number of very steep windings after winding the knotting windingsand before winding the package proper.

In an improvement of the winding method according to the invention asmall number of very steep windings are wound on an end bulge zone atone end of the filament package and an end bulge is wound upon saidsteep windings. If desired, after winding said end bulge, the filamentmay be wound in a few very steep windings to reach the opposite end ofthe package and a second end bulge may be wound on said last mentionedvery steep windings at the second end of the package.

The pitch of the knotting windings is preferably very small and theknotting windings are wound at opposite inclinations. The pitch of theknotting windings may be decreased in a damped manner.

An object of the invention is to provide an electrohydraulic control ofthe ring rail movement of a ring twisting machine, particularly for astretching and twisting machine, for treating strands of continuousfilaments whose continuous filaments are subjected to a stretching 60process to increase their strength and are then twisted before they arewound.

Stretching and twisting machines in which the ring rail is raised andlowered by means of heart, cam and lever mechanisms are already known.These known machines have a number of serious disadvantages. Thus, forexample, although the level of the winding stroke can be altered, theheight of the stroke itself cannot be adapted to the requirements of aparticular operation, so that there is a serious restriction in thechoice of the type of winding and the construction of the package.Another disadvantage is that the speed at which the ring rail is raisedand lowered can be adapted to particular operating conditions only byinterchanging gear wheels or by making use of some supplementarymechanism which considerably complicates the construction of the machineand increases the cost. Moreover, an attachment for knotting the thread,which is fixed to the bottom of a bobbin sleeve while the ring rail isat a standstill for a short time, cannot be applied over a fixed widthif the ring rail movement is controlled by mechanical means.

There are also known hydraulic mechanisms for moving the ring rail whichgenerally consist of pistons working in cylinders and directly coupledwith the ring rail. The movement of these pistons is controlled andreversed by an electromagnetically actuated multi-way valve. Theelectromagnets are actuated by limit switches attached to the frameworkof the machine and acting through linkages connected with the ring rail.Like the mechanical systems, these hydraulic systems have the greatdisadvantage that with the rapid reversal of movement of the heavy ringrail which is required nowadays in stretching and twisting machines, themovement cannot be carried out smoothly at the end of the raising andlowering movement; consequently, vibrations are superimposed on oneanother and build up near the upper and lower reversal points, and thisleads to the formation of ridges on the cops.

The known hydraulic mechanisms for moving ring rails are only providedwith means to ensure the raising and lowering of the ring rail atuniform speed at the beginning and end of the process of winding a cop,and this leads to ditficulties in the subsequent treatment of the cop,because the windings on the cop follow a stepped path so that the threadcannot be drawn oif smoothly. Furthermore, the end piece which is woundon to the cop at the end of the winding process consists of a number ofwingings varying within wide limits, which again is not desirable forthe subsequent treatment of the cop;

The disadvantages do not occur in the electro-hydraulic system accordingto the present invention. According to the invention there is providedan electro-hydraulic device for controlling the movement of a ring railof a textile ring twisting machine, comprising a working cylinder, 8.piston displaceable in the cylinder, a piston rod for transmittingmovement from the piston to the ring rail, ducts leading into theworking cylinder on opposite sides of the piston, a reversing valveconnected. to the ducts, a liquid supply pump connected to the reversingvalve, a reflux duct connected to the reversing valve, a governorconnected with the reflux duct for adjusting the return flow of liquid,and a valve for bridging the governor and connected in parallel with thegovernor which valve is opened at the beginning and at the end of awinding operation of the machine.

The electro-hydraulic control may have a stop valve which is actuated bythe ring rail and interrupts the flow of liquid for a certain time, thevalve being connected in a duct whose inflow of liquid displaces theworking piston. The stop valve is advantageously arranged in the duct inwhich the liquid is supplied to the cylinder during the upward movementof the ring rail, because, in this case oscillations of the ring railare produced at the beginning of the closure of the stop valve, whichoscillations secure the end of the thread moving upward from the wastebulge at the lower end of the cop. The stop valve may then be bridgedover by a supply rate governor adjustable to a low rate of through-flowfor the purpose of producing a broad connecting bulge.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic diagram of a mechanism for moving a ring rail,

FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 illustrate as a function of time the various raisingand lowering movements of the ring rail for forming a cop,

FIGURE is a detail thereof,

FIGURES 6, 7 and 8 are diagrams of electric circuits for carrying outraising and lowering movements in accordance with the programsillustrated in FIGURES 2 to 4.

In the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 1, a ring rail 2 containingspinning rings 1 (only one of which is shown in FIGURE 1) is moved upand down by oscillating toggle levers 3 mounted on fixed pivots 4, Eachof these toggle levers has a roller 3 or 3" at one end, the verticallymoving ring rail 2 being supported on these rollers. The oscillation isimparted to the toggle levers 3 by a piston rod 5 of a piston 6 which isreciprocated by liquid in a working cylinder 7. The piston 6 iscontrolled by a reversing valve 8 by way of ducts 9 and 10 connected tothe ends of cylinder 7. A magnetic armature surrounded by two separatesolenoids 13 and 14 which are energized by limit switches 16 and 17respectively is arranged on a piston rod 12 provided with a dampingplate 11. These limit switches 16 and 17 are connected to two separatelinkages 21 and 20, each of which is controlled by a removable cam disc19 and 18 respectively. These switches are moved up and down accordingto the type of package to be produced, each of the cam discs 18 and 19being driven by its own variable speed motor M and M respectively. Bysuitable choice of the cam discs 18 and 19 and adjustment of the speedof the motors M and M it is possible to produce any type of ring railmovement and therefore any type of package. A switching rod 22 isrigidly connected with the ring rail 2 and participates in its upwardand downward movement. The rod 22 is connected with a cam 23 andactuates the limit switches 16 and 17 and also a switch 24 for knottingthe thread, the switch 24 being connected with a soleoid 25 of a stopvalve 26 which is situated in the duct 10 and being open when no currentflows and is bridged over by a supply rate governor 26 which can beadjusted to zero or to small quantities. The valve 26 has an armature26'.

As seen in FIG. 1, the switch 17 is in its lowest position and theswitch 24 whose elevation is fixed is always below the switch 17.

The hydraulic system comprises a tank 27 for liquid and a conveyor pump28 which is driven by a motor M and which supplies actuating liquid tothe reversing valve 8 through a duct 29. Associated with the conveyorpump 28, is an excess pressure valve 30 connected in parallel, a highspeed valve 32 arranged in a reflux duct 31 and a flow rate governor 33arranged in parallel for adjusting the rate of return flow and hence thespeed of raising and lowering of the ring rail in normal operation. Asleeve 34 on the spindle carries a cop 35 which is in the process ofbeing built up. To facilitate further work on the cop, a terminal bulge36 is formed at the top and a bulge 37 at the bottom for connecting thethread by a knot. Further down, on the spindle itself, there is a wastebulge 38 which is formed at the beginning of the winding process withunstretched material which is to be excluded from subsequent treatmentprocesses, and this bulge is removed from the spindle from time to timeby the operator. When the upper terminal bulge 36 has been wound, anumber of windings can be wound on the waste bulge 38 (for furtherdetails see FIGURES 4 and 8). The elevation of this waste bulge 38 whichis formed with the ring rail in its lowest position depends entirely onthe position of an adjustment nut 39 on the cylinder 7, which representsa mechanical stop for the piston rod, The terminal bulge 36, which isalso necessary and which is formed at the end of the winding process, isformed when the ring rail is in its uppermost position which isdetermined by the position of a fork 40' secured by a lock nut 40. Theposition of the fork 40' may be adjusted by turning the piston rod 5. Inthe lowest position of the ring rail, the lock nut 40 comes into contactwith the adjustment nut 39 whose position determines the elevation ofthe waste bulge 38.

The reversing valve 8 consists of a three-step piston 41 which controlsthe inflow and outflow of the fluid to and from the ends of the cylinder7 through the ducts 9, 10. A vessel 42 which is opened at the top andhas a constricted zone 43 in the middle and is filled with control fluidcontains the piston rod 12 together with the damping plate 11 which isin the constricted zone when in the neutral position in which themovement of the piston 6 is reversed. The purpose of the damping plate11 is to suppress the oscillations shown in FIG. 2 and occurring at theupper and lower ends of the winding. FIGURE 3 shows the effect of thedamping means 11, 43. The program of movement for the ring rail shown inFIGURE 2 begins at the lower mechanical starting position UMA, in whichthe ring rail remains during the period to 2; of starting the machine.This is followed by a rise of the ring rail at high speed until theswitch 24 for the knotting bulge 37 is actuated. Thereafter the ringrail 2 is kept at a standstill by a time relay 49, FIGURES 6 to 8, untilthe time 1 when there is again a rapid rise until the slower normalmovement is initiated by the switch 54 whose elevation is fixed. A rapidrise over the sleeve 34 when the latter is still empty results in a verysmall number of steep windings which subsequently make it easier to drawthe thread off the spool. When a predetermined length of material hasbeen wound for a given time during the operation of the machine atnormal speed and the cop or package 35 has thereby been built up, acounting mechanism 44 (see FIG. 6) effects formation of the terminal orend bulge 36 (time t which may, if necessary, cause the ring rail todescend again to the lower limit switch 17 at the normal speed and thencause it to rise to the level of the switch 54 again at the normal speed(time 1 and this switch then initiates the rapid rise at a time andinterrupts the spindle drive at the time 22; in such a manner that afterreaching the upper mechanical stop OMA at the time t until the spindlesare stopped at t the same number of windings are applied each time tothe terminal bulge 36 (t t =constant).

FIGURE 3 shows in principle the same program of movement up to the time13;, but the switch 54 switches to high speed for downward movement ofthe spindle rail at the time t i.e. after a delay period so that a smallnumber of windings are applied to the cop until the lower mechanicalstop UMA is reached at the time i whereupon a terminal or end bulge isapplied until the spindle comes to rest completely at the time t InFIGURE 4, a terminal bulge is applied at UMA in addition to the terminalbulge OMA by rapidly lowering the spindle rail 2 completely at the timet and then stopping the spindle rail at the time t This can only be doneif the spindle rail has reached UMA before the time 1 The correspondingelectrical connections by means of which these programs are produced areillustrated in FIG- URES 6, 7 and 8 and are hereinafter described inmore detail.

FIGURE 5 shows the effect of the supply rate governor 26". When thisgovernor allows a small quantity to flow through, there will be a slightascent of the ring rail (broken line) in spite of the fact that the stopvalve 26 is closed, and the result of this is that the connecting orknotting bulge will have a certain width, which is often desirable inpractice. FIGURE 5 is an enlargement of the part of the diagram FIGURE 4in the zone of the connecting bulge. When the stop valve 26 in the duct10 is closed, an impulse wave is produced in the duct 10. This wave istransmitted through the piston 6 on to the ring rail 2 which thenexecutes a damped oscillation as shown in FIGURE 5. Such oscillationswould occur at the reversal points in the normal process of building upthe package if the damping plate 11 in the vessel 42 were omitted, butin this case they are desirable because when the thread has been severedat 56 (FIGURE 5) below the connecting bulge before the spool is drawnoff, the free end of the thread is not easily unwound because it is heldby the windings formed over it as a result of the oscillation.

The circuit diagram in FIGURE 6 corresponds to the program of movementillustrated in FIGURE 2. When the machine starts up and the spindles areset in operation by the motor M the ring rail 2 is situated on the lowermechanical stop UMA. When the manually operated starting button 45 ispressed, current flows through the magnet 45 and the armature 46 isenergized and the sequence switch 47 is turned by one notch into thestarting position (shown in broken lines) whereby a voltage is appliedto a starting bus bar 48. The motors M M and M are thereby started inaddition to the pump motor M which is already in operation for puttingthe hydraulic system into a condition of readiness (time t At the sametime, the time relay 49 energizes the solenoid 14 at the time t byclosing a switch 50, whereby the reversing valve 8 is set for liftingand a voltage is supplied to the solenoid 51 of the high speed valve 32through the conductor 52 for opening the valve. When the ring railreaches the switch 24 as it moves at high speed, the switch is closed,and the stop valve 26 is closed by means of the solenoid 25. At the timet the time relay 53 opens the circuit and the stop valve 26 is opened byspring pressure. The ring rail 2 again rises rapidly until it actuates aswitch 54 arranged at a certain elevation, and this establishesconnection with a bus bar 55 for normal operation through the magnet 45of the sequence switch 47. No more energy is now supplied to thesolenoid 51 of the high speed valve 32, and the ring rail continues itsascent at normal speed until it reaches the limit switch 16 and closesit and sets the reversing valve 8 to descent until it reaches the lowerlimit switch 17. From then on, it moves up and down, reversed indirection alternately by the limit switches 16 and 17 the elevation ofwhich is adjusted by the program motors M and M through the cams 18 and19, depending on the desired type of winding. When the counting element4 has run down, i.e. when the desired length of filament has been woundon to the spool, the switch 57 of the counting mechanism 44 is closed.Nothing happens then until the ring rail actuates the switch 54 and thesequence switch 47 is brought to the end bulge forming position wherebythe reversing valve 8 is immediately moved into the position of descentby the end bulge bus bar 58 and the conductor 59. At the time t switches61, 62 and 63 are operated by a time relay 6! as a result of whichcurrent flows through the solenoids 14 and 51, and the ring rail israpidly raised. As the limit switch 16 is actuated but transmits nocurrent, so that the movement is not reversed as in normal operation,the ring rail continues on its movement until it reaches the uppermechanical stop OMA. When the sequence switch 47 has been switched tothe end bulge bus bar 58, the supply of energy to the motors M M and Mis also cut off, so that the spindles of the machine are brought to astandstill at the time t This, however, still enables a sufficientnumber of turns to be wound on to the tip of the sleeve 34 to form theend bulge 36 after the mechanical stop OMA has been reached and beforethe spindle is brought to a complete standstill. In practice, it isnecessary always to have the same number of windings for all theoperations at the tip of the sleeve so that the operation will always bestopped at the same point in time. For this reason, the command stop isstored after the counting mechanism 44 has been released, until theswitch 54 is actuated by the ring rail on its downward path. For aparticular operation of the machine, the switch 54 is fixed in positionon the framework of the machine. When the upper end bulge 36 has beenformed, the spools are changed in the normal manner and the ring rail islowered by manual control so that the sequence of operations beginsagain from the lower mechanical stop UMA.

The program of movement shown in FIGURE 3 differs .bulge formation. Theswitch 54 from the one shown in FIGURE 2 by the fact that the end bulgeis formed at the bottom in the region of the waste bulge 38. This meansthat instead of the ring rail being raised to the upper mechanical stopOMA after the time t it is lowered to the lower stop UMA. The circuitdiagram is altered accordingly, as shown in FIGURE 7. The ascending ringrail 2 actuates the switch 54 which activates the end bulge bus bar 58through the sequence switch 47 and thereby reverses the ring railmovement through the conductor 64. At the same time, the time relay 60begins to operate and at the time i it switches on to high speed throughthe switch 63. As the time of operation t -t is known or so designed inadvance that the spindles will still be rotating when the ring rail hasalready reached the lower stop UMA (time t an end bulge consisting of afew turns of the thread will be formed at the bottom.

In the program of movement shown in FIGURES 4 and 8, the formation ofthe upper end bulge 36 in accordance with the first variation isfollowed by a rapid decent to the lower mechanical stop UMA. Thecorresponding circuit diagram FIGURE 8 requires the followingexplanation: at the start of the operation of the time relay 60 (t whichswitches to lifting and rapid at the time t the time relay 65 which isconnected in parallel also comes into operation and at the time t itswitches over from lifting to lowering by means of the switches 66 and67. This causes the ring rail to descend to the mechanical stop UMA withthe result that a helical steeply inclined winding is produced on thefinished cop, and in addition a small reserve winding is wound on at thebottom.

The switch 54 is actuated whenever it is passed by the element 23, butis effective only when there is current in the starting bus bar 48 or inthe end bulge bus bar 58. The switch 54 becomes effective when, afterstarting, the quick ascent of the ring rail changes to normal windingopera- .tion and when, after actuation of the switch 57 by the counter44, the normal winding program changes to end must be so placed as to bealways :below the lowest position of the switch 16 because, otherwise,the normal winding program cannot be changed to the end bulge formingprogram.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of winding the steps of mounting a sleeve on a support,

feeding a supply of filament for winding on the sleeve,

winding a relatively small number of first steep windings on the supportand the sleeve,

winding a relatively large number of knotting windings of equal lengthover the steep windings on the sleeve to produce a transfer tailthereon,

thereafter winding a relatively small number of second steep windingsover the sleeve,

subsequently building up a cop on the sleeve over said second steepwindings, and

thereafter winding an end bulge of filament on the sleeve at the endopposite said transfer tail.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 which further includes the steps ofwinding relatively few steep windings from the end bulge to the otherend of the sleeve, and winding an end bulge on the first steep windings.

3. A method of winding filament packages from stretched endlessfilaments on "a sleeve mounted on a spindle comprising the steps ofwinding a waste bulge of filament on the spindle below the sleeve,

subsequently winding a cop on the sleeve, and

winding a transfer tail bulge of useable filament material ofpredetermined length on the sleeve between said waste bulge and said copbefore winding of said cop, the filament windings prior to winding ofsaid transfer tail bulge being wound in a small number of steep windingsand the filament windings subsequent to winding of said transfer tailbulge and filament packages comprising prior to Winding of said copbeing wound in a small number of very steep windings.

4. A method as set forth in claim 3 further comprising the steps ofwinding on a few very steep windings 0f non-useable filament materialafter winding of said cop until an end bulge zone at one end of thesleeve is reached and winding an end bulge of nonuseable filamentmaterial in said end bulge zone.

5. A method as set forth in claim 4 further comprising the steps ofsubsequently winding a few steep windings of non-useable filamentmaterial from said end bulge zone to a second end bulge zone at theopposite end of the sleeve and winding 21 second end bulge ofnon-useable filament material in said second end bulge zone.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein the second end bulge iswound below the transfer tail bulge.

7. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein the windings of saidtransfer tail bulge are wound on a relatively small pitch.

8. A method as set forth in claim 3 wherein the windings of saidtransfer tail bulge include windings of opposite pitch, the pitch of thewindings being relatively small and of damped manner.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Hamel; Germanapplication No. 1,123,960, Feb. 15, 1962.

WILLIAM S. BURDEN, Primary Examiner.

